Visual Effects:
Relational Presentation Part II

A Devastating
Day

With the stroke of a politician’s pen in Washington DC,
a large commercial construction company in Scottsdale Arizona lost
more than 40% of its business. They knew the legislation was coming
but it was a devastating blow nonetheless. Operating budgets would
have to be cut dramatically and layoffs were eminent. Company executives
feared departmental infighting would cause lethal damage to employee
moral and perhaps destroy remaining operations. They desperately
needed a cohesive strategy for moving forward. On this day, grim-faced
department heads slowly shuffled into a meeting room, preparing
to face the situation. Everyone expected a contentious and volatile
event. To their surprise, something very different occurred…

In last month’s article (you may want to
read first) I introduced the concept of Relational Presentation,
where a speaker navigates
within a vast network of PowerPoint slides called a Presentation
Network. Such navigation allows quick and dynamic selection of
individual slides, even if thousands are available. In other words,
a speaker literally creates or customizes a visual presentation
on-the-fly. This article takes a closer look at Relational Presentation’s
finer mechanisms, particularly the use of visual elements to create
what we call “communication special effects”.

Visuals Talk—And They Often Say More than Is Obvious

Maybe I’m biased, but I truly have the greatest job in the
world. I get to play with people’s minds for hours on end
in workshops, and then they actually pay me for it and ask for
more! Relational Presentation methods are fascinating, in part,
because they are full of illusions. As I worked with Mayo Clinic
trainees last week—a very bright group at that—I asked, “Did
you see what just happened?” or “What just happened?” or “How
did I do that?” Blank stares. My questions, of course, were
very unfair because there was no way they could have known. I was
demonstrating some of the components we’ll look at next—Multiple
Meanings, Hidden Meanings, and Optical Illusions.

Multiple
Meanings

Relational
Presentation relies heavily on what presentation professionals
call “visual communication”, where pictures, graphics,
diagrams, video clips, and animations SPEAK to the audience, even
if the presenter never says a word. But Relational Presenters take
matters a step further and often give visuals MULTIPLE purposes
or meanings.

Notice the slide to the right. It’s a switchboard I use
for showcasing projects, clients, and applications. In one sense,
the little thumbnails on this slide are purely functional; they
each link to their own slideshow and thus visually tell me where
to find the content I need. However, there is a pretty obvious
secondary (unspoken) purpose as well. Is anyone surprised that
I often linger on this slide a few seconds longer than necessary,
before clicking one of the links? Do I want audience members, perhaps
future clients, to glance through all the featured logos? Absolutely.
I don’t have to say a word. The visuals speak for themselves.

Sometimes I purposely hang out on this slide for awhile, telling
stories, implying viewers can interactively request details on
specific projects. The indirect goal, of course, is to enhance
my credibility. During an hour-long presentation, I may casually
visit this slide several times to reinforce the imagery over and
over. Notice, also, the branding elements in the background. This
one slide simultaneously facilitates navigation, branding, and
marketing.

Hidden Meanings

Now
notice the word “Applications” on the previous
image. It’s an active link that opens the slideshow pictured
to the right, featuring real-world examples of Relational Presentation
techniques. What viewers don’t know, however, is that this
section also is secretly set up to handle objections. When I address
an audience, there is an excellent chance someone will raise at
least one of about twelve common objections as to why they think
Relational Presentation won’t work in their situation. Such
objections are normal and quite predictable in scope—I just
don’t know which ones are coming when! Having a clandestine
objections section allows me to say, “You know, that’s
a great point. Let me show you something you might want to think
about.” It’s a powerful tool, both for me and my listeners.
It helps me quickly address concerns and provides listeners customized,
visual information for better understanding. Also notice what a “sheer
coincidence” it is that I must navigate through the “Projects” section
to get here (thus briefly showing the logos each time.)

Optical Illusions

Look at these two slides. The one on the top
is my Network’s
Cover slide (like the cover of a book) and the other is my primary
(Main) switchboard. Their appearance is quite similar and most
observers don’t notice me shifting back and forth between
them. That’s good. I don’t want them to notice. I can
mask some of my customization activities that way. In reality,
these slides are vastly different. The Cover show has many hidden
zones for special (and secret) invisible navigation whereas the
Main Switchboard is designed for purely visible (and obvious) navigation.
The reasons for these differences are beyond the scope of this
article, but I use the optical illusion (in this case giving the
slides similar appearance) to basically fool the audience into
thinking there is only one slide. Look at the last graphic below
to see what the Cover slide looks like to me (in my mind’s
eye while I’m presenting).

Optical illusions also allow a presenter to seemingly jump out
of a bullet list at any time, visit slides in other shows, and
then immediately return to the bullet list and continue with the
next bullet point. It’s all trickery, but amazingly useful
and effective for helping fight the well known “Death-by-Bullet-Point” syndrome.

…Back to the Devastating Day

Let’s return now to the construction company’s dilemma.
What attendees didn’t know coming into the meeting was that
company officials had created a special Presentation Network (using
some of the above techniques) just for this event. It contained
multiple layers of detail for each department’s budget and
operations, along with “what if” scenarios and possible
options the company could explore. In other words, right from the
start participants were introduced to an interactive, problem-solving
environment based on PowerPoint. The meeting’s “Presenter” became
more like a moderator of the ensuing discussions. Attendees could
instantly request any level of detail across all departments and
collectively work towards an agreeable reorganization—and
they did so until arriving at consensus. Was the process still
painful? Yes, but they emerged from the meeting with a cohesive
plan of action. Even more importantly, the creative nature of the
event spawned several new ideas for restoring portions of lost
business. Today the company is stronger than ever and growing.

If You Try This

The responses to last month’s article were tremendous, resulting
in hundreds of Guides being emailed. I have one word of caution,
and hopefully inspiration, for those of you ready to try Relational
Presentation techniques—Visual Interactivity is more than
just doing the same things you’ve always done, but now with
spiced-up PowerPoint slideshows. The concept is a complete change
of mindset and methodology. To be an excellent Relational Presenter,
you must first UNLEARN PowerPoint. That’s when the fun begins!

To see a demonstration of Relational Presentation
in action, visit the Aspire website at www.aspirecommunications.com and
view the Flash movie(s) on the home page. You may also request
an informative free booklet entitled “A Guide to Relational
Presentation” by mailing a request
or: